Anything at All
by Mnlight Requiem
Summary: A sweet little DuoxHilde fic with lots of fluff and a little angst. Currently being brought back from the dead after years of inactivity with every intent of finishing. How hard is it for someone as damaged as Duo to hold onto true love in the alien atmosphere of peace-time? Can Hilde survive the process?
1. From the Ranks of the Freaks

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing isn't mine. If it was, there would be much more fanservice. Don't sue me, you won't get much. Except my cat. You can have my cat.

Warning: I began this story seven years ago when I was fifteen and as I have matured, so has this story. There will be some mature content including language and adult themes.

Oh and the song I quote is "Save Me" by Aimee Mann.

* * *

Chapter one

**You look like a perfect fit**

**For a girl in need of a tourniquet**

**But can you save me**

**From the ranks**

**Of the freaks**

**Who suspect**

**They could never love anyone**

Autumn leaves fell from the trees that lined the sidewalk and brought beauty to the metropolitan atmosphere from their small squares of earth in an ocean of concrete. Hilde watched said leaves dance in a small breeze that blew outside of the coffee shop and took a sip of her coffee. The plaintive melancholy of a song on the radio reached her ears. '_He'll be here soon.'_

Tearing her gaze from the sidewalk outside, she stared into the murky depths of her coffee cup. Hazel butternut something. She had grown up watching men around her drink stuff that more closely resembled rocket fuel than anything she'd seen in a café and so had just recently warmed up to the idea of drinking it recreationally. Duo had called her cell phone and asked what she was up to. After she told him her location he had quipped that he'd meet her there and unceremoniously hung up.

So here she was, waiting. She had to admit that after them having so much business lately and Duo spending more time with his girlfriend, the thought of spending some time soaking up his presence warmed her more thoroughly than any hazel butternut something could. She sighed, the first sound she had made since she set her cell phone down on the wooden tabletop. '_Don't be like that. You're his best friend. That's more than enough.'_

Hilde bit her lip and looked back out the window.

"Hey babe." His familiar voice so close to her ear made her eyes widen in surprise and her heart to skip a beat.

"Holy crap Duo! You scared me." She said, placing a hand over her chest for effect. He chuckled and sat down across from her, setting a cup of what looked like his usual double chocolate mocha and a small bag of gummy bears in front of him. He took a swig of his drink and looked up at her with eyes that made her realize she was smiling a little too honestly.

"So, how has your day been?" She asked, watching as he opened the bag of gummy bears.

"Swell! Lil' and I saw that movie I've been wanting to see after lunch. There wasn't really enough action to keep me interested, though."

"Cool." She continued to watch as he took out two gummy bears, one green and one red.

"So Matt told me you guys are going to dinner tomorrow night?"

"He wishes." She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I know he does." He looked up at her with meaning shining in his cobalt eyes.

"Oh don't give me that look Duo…It's not like I'm leading him on or anything! I've told him over and over again that I'm not interested."

He frowned.

"But you guys would be _so_ cute together!" He took the green gummy bear and made it walk towards the red one. "Oh Matt! If only I had given you a chance I could have seen how much I love you!" He squeaked in a voice that was comically feminine. "It's not too late! Just go to dinner with me tomorrow night!" He replied in a supposed to be dashingly deep voice and squished the two bears together, making kissing sounds.

Hilde was torn between annoyance and amusement, but after a few moments of this and a few stares from other customers she cracked.

"ALRIGHT! FINE! I'll go out with him! But just once! And you'd better tell him that it doesn't mean we're dating." She ran a hand through her short hair and sighed.

Duo grinned and brought the little green bear to his face. "We did it Mr. Bear!"

Hilde sighed again, watching as the young man in front of her set up a gummy war. She smiled and stole one from the ranks.

"Hey!" Duo protested. Hilde just stuck her tongue out at him and looked out the window. A silence settled over the two like one of the many leaves falling outside.

"Besides, I…like someone else right now." She said softly. She immediately regretted it.

"Really? Who?"

**Cause I can tell**

**You know what it's like**

**The long farewell**

**Of a hunger strike**

For a long awkward moment she was silently at a loss. Alarms rang in her head as she silently scrambled to find a graceful way to end the conversation.

"I uh….that is…I don't…want to say." She kept her gaze fixed on the street. She cursed herself over and over again in her head for her carelessness.

"Why not?" She knew she had caught his curiosity now and he was not going to easily drop it. He was the type of guy to blatantly ignore social cues despite the obvious discomfort of those around him. Hilde held a sneaking suspicion that he did this for the most part in order to break the ice in groups such as his fellow gundam pilots, who had such an eclectic mix of personalities that all knew more about the weapon specs of every armored group on and off the grid and how to survive a free-fall into the middle of the ocean than how to carry on a real conversation. A little girl walked by with a balloon that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" on it.

"When's your birthday Duo?"

"November thirteenth, and don't change the subject!"

Hilde almost choked on her coffee.

"That's next week!"

He looked down and popped a gummy bear into his mouth.

"Yeah."

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A/N: This is the revised version of the first chapter. I am going to go over the second in order to make it a little less rough, as well. I made mostly superficial changes that won't effect the storyline, but will hopefully just make this easier to read. I know inserting lyrics is a sort of outdated thing but because music is such a part of the creative process I decided to leave it in. If I continue to insert any in the future I'm going to try to keep it tasteful and probably keep it short and mainly at a break or beginning of the chapter. Reviewers let me know if it detracts. Thank you for reading and I hope you make it to the end with me! :)


	2. The Way You Looked Tonight

A/N: This is a short chapter, the last of the two I had written about seven years ago. It's been rewritten since to be more congruent with what the story has now become. It's just a little puff of fluff as the plot really picks up in about two chapters from now when the other pilots make an appearance. Please enjoy and thank you for reading.

Chapter Two – The Way You Looked That Night

The house was quiet. Not the peaceful, sleepy quiet. No, this was an unnatural quiet that had settled over the house Duo and Hilde shared.

Duo sat in the living room, tossing a hacky sack into the air and catching it. Hilde was in her room getting ready for her date, which was in less than an hour. Matt was taking her to a company party, (which, in Duo's opinion, was just some swanky excuse for rich snobs to drink excessively and gossip). Not that there was anything wrong with that.

He didn't know why, but he had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He threw the cloth covered ball into the air and followed it with his eyes as it went up, hung for a moment, and fell back down into his waiting grasp.

Hilde had never talked about having feelings for someone before. Up, down. Up, down. The rhythmic activity served as a distraction from the thoughts that drifted through his mind. It had been over two years since they had settled into the post-war status quo, as it were. Duo supposed it was reasonable to think that she hadn't had time or energy to devote to a love interest between all it took to build the scrapyard business and prop Duo up financially while he got his shit together (and some semblance of an albeit fake I.D. and credentials that were just shabby enough to escape suspicion). Not that he hadn't done his part once that was over, however. His sweepers connections alone had been quite useful.

Who could it be? He tried to think of all the guys she knew, but most seemed a stretch at best. He caught the sack in his hand and held it. His mind briefly categorized himself into the group of applicants. The sudden thought stunned him and he felt a flush creeping to his face at the thought. _No way. Hilde and I aren't like that. She's like my little sister or something. That would be sick._

He sighed, and tossed the ball into the air again. He heard footsteps on the carpet and turned around to greet his roommate, subconsciously trying to erase any evidence of what he had been pondering from his features. He stopped short and the welcoming smile he had prepared went slack as his eyes took in the sight before him.

Hilde glared at the floor, her hair held back in an elegant barrette, her bangs framing her face. She wore an off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress with a pale grey butterfly design on the skirt. A simple rhinestone teardrop necklace dipped just below her collarbone. Her makeup was light and accented her dark eyes. She tried not to wobble in her high heels as she took a step forward and turned around slowly.

"Is it…alright?" She peeked at him from under her bangs, and saw him staring at her with a puzzling expression on his face. It made her squirm uncomfortably. Shouldn't he have said something by now? Was it that bad?

"I- uh...ye-uhm it's really nice, kid." Maybe seeing someone everyday for a couple years makes you oblivious to some things after a while, but how could he not notice it before? It was probably because Hilde was almost always seen in jeans and a t-shirt, usually with some grease on her face from working in the shop. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her in a skirt. If he were somebody else, he would find her irresistible. If he hadn't seen what he had, he would have seen her from a distance somewhere and asked for her number.

But he wasn't someone else, and it was just Hilde standing in front of him, seemingly unsure of the nature of his answer. He grinned then and said with an accent that betrayed any attempt to forget his streetrat upbringing, "You look _bangin'_!"

Hilde scoffed at his verbage and a grin crept onto her face though she bit her lip, as if punishing it for revealing the delight and relief she felt from his reaction.

An awkward silence fell over the two.

He didn't say anything else, but sat in silence until the doorbell rang a minute later. Hilde walked (a little unsteadily) to the door and greeted Matt before saying goodbye to Duo. He gave Matt a miniature salute without letting his gaze slip from Hilde's back as she walked toward the car. He got up to lock the door and stared unseeingly at his hand as it lingered.

Duo's head was spinning. Something different had come over him and he was trying his best to figure out what it was. It was like some snoring beast in his chest had just come to life. Everything was normal right? He was the one who set her up on a date with Matt, his long time friend, and he was glad she was going out with him tonight. Right?

There was nothing wrong with Matt and Duo was relatively confident that Hilde could handle herself in even the most improbable of situations. Was this the overprotectiveness felt by those who were born with little sisters, come to fruition from the closeness that had formed between them?

Then… why did he wish so badly that she hadn't left?

**She rolls the window down**

**And she talks over the sound**

**Of the cars that pass us by**

**And I don't know why**

**But she's changed my life**


	3. Feels Like Home

Matt was a perfect date, from what Hilde could tell. She hadn't had to open a single door nor had she wanted for attention even in the midst of a crowd of co-workers who all knew each other. That was not to say, however, that she felt any less alone.

This was not her crowd, and as she made small talk with the working professionals around her she began to wish she could slip away and go home to Duo, who would doubtlessly be fixed in front of the tv watching an old, campy horror flic. He had, as long as she had known him, gravitated toward the bad effects and poorly scripted plots. She had never shared his interest but sitting with him was a way for her to enjoy his company and relax without the pressure of his full attention. Sometimes she would be able to just admire his handsome features without him knowing. Hide cleared her throat at the thought, squirmed a little in her high heels and tried to concentrate on the conversation she had been having about life after the war with a woman (if you could call her that, as she could not nearly be much older than Hilde) with long chestnut curls and earrings that dangled and swung with her every movement.

"But that's really nice, not having to work for someone else, you know, being your own boss. I'm so jealous!" The girl chatted enthusiastically. Hilde tried to find it in herself to match the brunette's smile, but as she glimpsed her manicured nails that were wrapped delicately around her glass of chardonnay, she found it difficult to find her compliment sincere. Instead she shrugged and tried to steer the conversation away from the gritty details of what her job truly entailed. Curling her fingers into her palms, suddenly paranoid that the remnants of motor oil that never really disappeared despite rigorous scrubbing would give her away, she excused herself on the pretense of refilling her now empty glass with wine.

As she made her way through the crowd she wondered if the open bar stocked anything stronger. As it turned out, they did.

The sudden knock at the door made Duo jump. He reached under the couch for the pistol he kept there, loaded. Old habits died hard, after all. Shoving the gun into the hem of his jeans in the small of his back, he made his way to the door, ducking lower than the height of the windows as he approached. He let out the breath he was holding when a quick glance through the peephole revealed the sorry sight on his doorstep. He swung the door open.

"I let her out of my sight for one whole evening…" he muttered to himself as he ushered Matt, who was carrying piggyback-style a semi-conscious Hilde, inside. Matt winced as he turned to slip Hilde into a controlled fall onto the couch. He rolled his shoulders as Duo helped arrange Hilde on the couch. Duo felt her balmy forehead and brushed her bangs out of her eyes before stepping back to consider where they usually kept the aspirin his roommate would no doubt be in need of come morning (if not sooner).  
"How much did she have?" he asked Matt without taking his eyes off of the sleeping girl who was now curling herself around a throw pillow.  
"I stopped counting after her third scotch and soda" his friend answered.  
"Atta girl…." Duo mused. '_Drink like the big boys.'_

"I'm sorry, man." Matt said sheepishly. "I should have kept better track of her."  
Duo shrugged.  
"It's not your fault. She's a big girl. She knows what she's getting herself into."  
Matt was silent for a while before he said softly, "That's what I was afraid of…"  
He excused himself after asking if there was anything else he could do. Duo assured him he could handle it and tried to reassure him that he shouldn't feel guilty. After locking the door behind him, Duo made his way back to the couch in their living room and flipped the safety back on on the gun he then slid back into its hiding spot under the couch.

He stayed there, sitting with his back against the glass coffee table, letting the relative silence of the house settle around them. He could hear the hum of the refrigerator, the whir of the air conditioning through the vents, the ticking of the clock in the kitchen, and Hilde's slightly labored breath in front of him. Resting his elbows on his knees, he dug his hands into his bangs and just watched her for a while. He wasn't aware of how much time passed before she tried to roll over and fuzzily struggled with the task of kicking off the heels she had been wearing. Duo helped slide her feet out of them and placed them neatly on the floor to one side. Hilde mumbled something and rolled over onto her side, facing away from him.  
He thought suddenly that he might as well get her a blanket as he watched her wrap her arms around herself. He got up then and made his way down the hall which led to their bedrooms. Before he had time to think it out, he had already grabbed the extra blanket he kept in his room and walked back into the living room with it. If he had thought about it he supposed the more logical thing was to find one from her room, but rejected the idea on the basis of him being a little frightened of rummaging through a girl's room. He knew where this one was, at least.

It was brown and heavy for its size, with the yawning face of a tiger stitched on one side. He laid it gingerly over her, but her eyes opened nonetheless. She visibly struggled to put the pieces together of where she was for a moment before looking up at him sheepishly.  
"I overdid it, huh." she said softly.  
"A little." Duo replied with a small smile. He walked around to sit next to her as she sat up on the couch. He leaned back and sighed, suddenly wondering what time it was. He sank into the couch tiredly as they shared the silence for a moment. Hilde rubbed her eyes and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. She seemed groggy and still smelled of booze and mingled perfume, but her lucidity was encouraging. Duo wasn't much in the mood for keeping her from aspirating vomit tonight.  
"Think you're gonna be sick?" he asked, just in case. She shook her head and said "no", but that she really needed to pee. Duo chuckled good-naturedly and flipped through the channels on TV while he waited for her to get back from the bathroom. Advertisements and infomercials filled the air. When she did come back, she seemed much more awake, and commented on the absurdity of one of the products being sold by an abrasive salesman. Duo said nothing and finally settled on a rerun of a sci-fi series he'd seen every episode of already at least twice.

The two watched silently together except for the occasional indignant grunt from Hilde at a particularly absurd scene. Soon her body began to thirst for sleep and she found herself leaning more heavily into the cushions and Duo's shoulder. When he showed no sign of discomfort with the closeness, she let go of her remaining inhibitions and rested her head on his shoulder. He moved after a moment or two and she jerked back, forming an apology that died on her lips as he set a throw pillow on his lap and patted it. She hesitated a moment in disbelief before scooting to lie with her head resting on the pillow.

"Just make sure you tell me if you're gonna puke." he said, laying a hand on her head, "These are new shoes".

"Yer not wearing shoozz…" she pointed out, still slurring a bit.

"Exactly."

Hilde closed her eyes and let the remaining dizziness fade. She smiled and tried to savor the moment, both cursing herself for being too inebriated to truly appreciate it and glad to have the ability to leave the more cumbersome thoughts behind that would ruin it for herself anyway. She sighed and let the swirling nothingness in her head take over. Her eyes popped back open suddenly and she froze as Duo began to gently stroke her hair. It was such a little thing, she knew, but incredibly surprising coming from the hands that felt the burden of taking so much life during the war and silently withheld from most unnecessary or intimate interaction. She knew this wasn't normal for him, and that caused a great swirling of uncertainty where there had just been blissful absence. She was sure he was intimate with his girlfriend, but even then there was a difference between the lewd behavior he showed then and what he was doing now. Hilde felt goosebumps up her arms and unintentionally tensed, but soon her body gave up the ghost and let the day catch up with her, along with the task of ridding her tissues of the substances she had consumed hours earlier.

Duo continued to absentmindedly stroke the soft ebony locks of Hilde's now horribly mussed hair as cyborgs battled a giant space squid on TV. He felt unnaturally warm and wondered if it was because of the addition of Hilde's body heat. He couldn't be sure how much time and poor computer graphics went by before a very quiet realization slipped into his consciousness.

The warmth had nothing to do with the temperature, but with a feeling he was very unfamiliar with filling the crevice of his chest. He tried to pinpoint it and could only come back to the word 'home'. Not a word he had used often in his life, and when he wound back the reel of memories he could find no similar feeling except for very briefly in between when he had first arrived at the Maxwell Church and when it met its fiery end. His mind flashed to the feeling of Sister Helen's hands braiding his long hair after a bath she had somehow wrestled him into. She had paid special attention so not as to tug too harshly on the tangled mess as she slowly worked it out into something less wild. The seemingly endless and capricious patience the woman showed him was humbling. He wondered if his mother had been like that, if he could have known her.

That was the end of that train of thought, since he knew from years of experience that it led into much darker places that proved difficult to pull himself from once immersed. Still, he thought, maybe Hilde had given him something similar to what Sister Helen had tried to give him all those years ago. Before she met a terrible, violent death in his arms.

With that, Duo looked down at Hilde and as he judged her to be settled into a deep slumber, he scooped her up in his arms and made his way down the hall to deposit her in bed.


End file.
